Wednesday, July 3, 2013

What's Up Wednesday, Ready. Set. Write!

Here is the obligatory, "I can't believe it's July already!" comment because, well it's true. Weather has been weird here in the midwest. It's been rainy and mild, which honestly, I'm cool with. I'd take upper 70s any day over 90 degrees and scorching.

What I'm Reading:

The one perk of being sick with a cold was that I read 3 books. I was doing just fine until a hot yoga class last Tuesday; I hadn't taken a single a yoga class in probably a year (cardio classes are not the same as the strength and stretching in yoga) let alone when the temp is set higher and it's a 70 minute class. All that sweat is supposed to release toxins, but I guess on the way out they decided to infect me.

On the way to my RWA (romance writers) meeting last week, I stopped by a mom n' pop coffee-slash-knitting shop in the downtown near the library where my group meets. They had the cutest little fountain and a landscaped area between the buildings, right off the town's main street, that made me feel like a tourist for a few minutes. At the end of that little pathway were some colorful flowers (a better camera than my phone would show that!).

At the meeting, we did a Skype chat with historical fiction author Courtney Milan, who has such a great outlook on how to take control of your writing career. She transitioned from traditional to self-publishing, and has strategized to make the most of her publishing experience. She is all about educating writers to make the best choices for them, and I found a lot of her advice applies whether you self-publish or not, and how crucial it is to understand the publishing industry for yourself, and not assume that certain details will be figured out for you just because you have an agent/publisher/PR person.

Also, I have to admit, I don't gravitate toward regency or Victorian-era romances, but her books are so good. Her characters are the opposite of cliche, her stories have so much depth, her heroines are amazingly witty.

GOLDEN seems to be the read of the week. I just added it to my library list and there are four requests ahead of me. Summer colds are the worst! I hope you are all better. Good luck with your goals this week.

Happy to hear that new project is in development. :) Very cool! That sucks that you were sick this week. Are you feeling better now? Hope so. I love your container garden! My husband and I have been growing things for the first time on our back deck and we're loving it so much. We have tomatoes, strawberries, geraniums, marigolds, and dahlias. I think next time around we'll do more veggies, etc. So much fun. I hope you have a great week, Stephanie, and that your cold is long gone. :)

I'm glad you can find the upside of being sick - that's my perk too. Reading. And oh what a wonderful book you read. WHERE SHE WENT is one of my all time favorites! (Actually, I'm just in love with Adam Wilde - I loved reading a story from his POV)

Also, great view! I need something like that - a great place to sit outside and write. Currently it's just me and my lawn chair and well, my lawn. Maybe someday!

Good for you plowing through a cold to get some ideas percolating! I loved IN HONOR so I really want to look up GOLDEN. I haven't yet read Courtney Millan and I love historicals, so I'll definitely look her up. Thanks for the tip!! And hope you're cold-free this coming week!

Brainstorming is always fun, figuring everything out for your world and characters, makes me want to start a new project! Jealous of your garden, I need to get me one of those one day. I can't wait to read Golden by Jessi Kirby, jealous!

That sounds like good advice from the RWA meeting. I also don't gravitate towards Regency or Victorian books, romance or not, since it's just been done so many times. That's probably how other people feel about WWII/Shoah era books, which I really enjoy reading and writing, so I can't complain too much about an overdone era.

Camp is exhausting after only a few days, but I'm kind of glad I was assigned the nursery campers again. They might have a few accidents or too much energy sometimes, but they're really easier to handle and plan activities for than older campers. And they're so little and cute!

I love container gardening, it's very satisfying and not quite as exhausting as actual, in-ground gardening. I am not great at keeping plants alive though. Happy to hear your new project is developing nicely, and I'm sure you'll get through the issues in your current WIP. Issues are inevitable.

So sorry you were sick a few days! But, yay for all of those books. I've heard so many folks recommend GOLDEN...I must pick it up soon.

Your container gardening is impressive! I don't have a green or black thumb...I don't thing I have a gardening thumb at all. My entire family can grow acres of stuff and I can barely keep succulents alive-ha!

I hope you're feeling better. I hope your enjoying The Girl is Murder. I read it early this year I really enjoyed it. I'm so glad your brainstorming is working out nicely. I bet that feels awesome. And there's nothing better than a homegrown tomato. Have a great weekend!

Sorry to hear you've been under the weather - such a bummer to be sick during the summer. I've got GOLDEN and Jessi Kirby's other two books out from the library - hopefully I'll get to them over the long weekend. Good luck with your goals this week!

I'm curious about GOLDEN now. I've seen a few people read and love it, so I might have to add that to my TBR. I'm also a little jealous of your upper 70s weather. I do love the 90s heat for swimming and ice cream, but sometimes, I just want some sunshine without the heat stroke!

I love these What's Up posts. I have to admit I'm curious about Golden too and now you've got me curious about Courtney Milan since I haven't read historical in a while, and characters that are opposite of cliche? that hooked me.